March 23, 2020

WOW!!!  The market was up with the biggest gains ever, over 2K on the DOW.  Pelosi and gang are still holding up the rescue package for the American worker.  Think about this while at the polls.  I have a little cash available for more bargain.  I am in fact moving a few investments around in more liquid companies.  The smaller cap type companies may take a few more quarters to string together before their stock become viable.

Things I will be looking at will be the services industry since this virus.  In addition, watch the payment industry (PayPal) as well.  ETF’s may be the way to go for a while to stay safe, look to include Mastercard and Visa…  Collaboration software, both video and document sharing (Twilo, Skype, Jabber) could be a safe bet.  This will drive the need to expedite the 5G networks, thus sparking companies such as (Skyworks and Verizon).

We have a lot of ground to make up since the crash, and I still don’t believe we’re out of the woods just yet.  Companies have been disrupted coupled with the supply chain is going to make it difficult to get ramped up.  This will begin the expansion of companies and possibly grow our relationship with Mexico to bring back all makings to reduce the number of companies in the overall supply chain.

March 19, 2020

BMRA opened up again at 120% and climbing.  Kroger is up about 7%,,,  Both making enough to offset my others to ease the pain.  Waiting on a quick up-turn soon.  New York news dragged the market down since their announcement of even more people infected by this virus.

DocuSign (DOCU) continues to be a steady winner as it is up again over 8%.

Stocks to watch are allibaba and amazon.  Both will hold fairly steady as people have resorted to purchase through these avenues.

GOOD LUCK!!!

March 18, 2020

Biomerica (BMRA) up over 250%  Started shipping test kit for the corona virus,,, I should have purchased more.  I view this as a short term investment and will set my close price point accordingly.  Other companies to watch is campbells and other misc cooking supplements.

Kroger (KR) is up over 9%   Never would I have invested in this however, it caught my eye about 3:00am and bought several shares before the market opened.

ACAAX (mutual fund) up over 5%   This one boggles me since the major holdings are Microsoft, Amazon and Apple which are all down.

Crowd Strike (CRWD) is up over 5%   Crowd strike is a cyber security software tool that tracks everything north and south,,, east and west for companies that take Info Sec seriously.  They’ll be around since Carbon Black was purchased by vmWare.  Not to ever count carbon black as a technology of the past, it’s very much a viable product however, it gets lumped in to the overall vmWare financials.  This affects the overall liquidity of vmWare which is a major factor when it comes to investing.

Re-financing mortgages:  Low Interest Rates spur 1000’s of applications, shop around as many lenders don’t maintain the liquidity to honor the suggested Fed decrease.  The reason? Too many applications and not enough liquidity in the secondary market that buys securities backed by mortgages.  Now that the Fed has committed to purchasing $200 billion in mortgage-backed-securities — injecting more liquidity in the market and making more cash available for banks to lend out — that could help bring interest rates down in the long run. SHOP SHOP SHOP, do not restrict yourself to your existing mortgage provider.

March 10, 2020

Roth IRA’s:  Every chance one gets add the max of $7,000/yr in a ROTH IRA.  Pay the lower Trump taxes now and avoid any further tax as the account increases in value.  One must have added $25K before investing in stocks however, one can still buy mutual funds and ETF’s until one as added $25k.  Once one reaches retirement you can no longer add to a ROTH IRA so do it now.

First and foremost identify a financial adviser and a good CPA.  Demand they get to know one another, remember, they work for you.  Listen to your FA however, listen to your own gut feel since if anybody looses in this game it’s you.  I currently use an individual from the EDJ however, I personally despise their online portal.  It does not track the traded securities in a real-time fashion where one can determine what’s working and what’s not.  I rolled over a small portion of an IRA and opened an individual account to perform several of my own trades a few years back.  Most refer to that as “Day Traders” which I view as people shooting from the hip and see what sticks.  Those types fall to the waist side rapidly in disappointment.  The platforms of choice have been Ameritrade and E-Trade.  The support for these 2 platforms are very good so my advise is to use them often.  Don’t worry about asking dumb questions as I’m sure these guys have heard it all, besides they want your business.

Take a few hundred dollars and dabble with penny stocks, learn the various screens and access the analyst recommendations.  However, nothing can substitute your own knowledge when it comes to investing, so find means to increase your awareness of good companies to invest in and avoid the fly-by-night operations that fold as fast as they open.  DO NOT think and/or view this as a “Get Rich Quick” scheme, save that for the Lottery.

Think your world is coming to an end? Can’t blame you with the political battles, Corona Virus outbreak, the market down fall and the economy shrinking by the day.  Use this time to do some strategic planning on your investment portfolios.  The US market is still the best way to move to prosperity in your lifetime.  First of all I personally am a big fan of our current president Donald J Trump, so if this offends you please leave now…  The use of this blog is to share ideas not get into political arguments because you WILL loose.  Leave that for all you facebook junkies.  Lets keep this as a method to share ideas that work, don’t work and the struggles one may have in this journey called life.

I for one have seen my portfolio drop by 30-40% and continues the downward trend.  I for one have never seen the market act the way it has.  I would consider my investment strategy fairly diversified with various US markets with minimal exposure to international markets.  Well by the looks of my portfolio that’s not enough.

I’m using this time as I predict next year taxes will enable several right off’s in losses.  Now’s the time to butcher holdings that have not performed as well as expected but didn’t want to liquidate to avoid a tax bill.

2019 was an exceptional year and our tax bill show’s it just to see the earnings go in the tank.  At least we have until July to pay since this pandemic struck.

All I can say is first and foremost STAY SAFE and WELL.

Now on to more interesting topics,,, like making smart choices to enabling one to prosper in this crazy market.

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